Crex Crex

At about six o’clock yesterday morning I was awoken by a bustling commotion in my room. My cat was chasing something and something was obviously fleeing from my cat. There was a visitor in my room and I didn’t know who or what it was. Judging from Cat’s behavior, from the fact that she wasn’t making any hissing or other menacing sounds, it was not a snake. Since I leave all my windows open during the night and we live in a little one-level house surrounded by nature, all sorts of creatures can and do come in.

I found our involuntary guest hiding under my bed. It was a Corn Crake (Crex crex in Latin), a medium-sized migratory bird that is

stopping over in Israel on its way from Europe or Asia to Africa (thousands of kilometers, isn’t that AMAZING!), where it will spend the winter (of the northern hemisphere). I love birds and I never saw one of these. Excited by this rare sight and eager to help the bird get back out of the house, my son and I closed the cat in the other room and followed the frightened escaping creature around the place in an attempt to either catch it or get it to exit through the open door or window by itself. But it wasn’t that easy. Especially not with Cat now positioned outside the entrance door and ready for the coveted catch, after having managed to sneak out of the other room. Tired and the room in a mess of displaced furniture, we decided to go get some more sleep (Friday-Saturday is our weekend) and postpone the mission to later.

When I awoke again somewhere around 10 or 11 a.m., Crex crex was still there, hiding in the remotest and the darkest (and dustiest) corner of my room. Even Cat hadn’t thought of looking there. We resumed the rescue project but our avian visitor didn’t quite get it yet and decided to explore a few more hiding places. On his way to the back of the fridge however, he noticed the bright sun rays that were now beaming invitingly through the window and that is when his instincts led him to and out the wide open door. Crex crex flew right over the anticipating cat, probably thinking ‘you can just kiss my ass stupid feline’ and off he was.